But the time had come for Sir Robert to show us his musical side.His earliest, non-solo side. It was time for The Boomtown Rats.
Animated, comic-strip rats appeared on the video screen, and never have rats looked so charming. A hypnotic voice in Serbian repeated the mantra, “We are… The Boomtown Rats!” Then the “old timers” came out, aging lions who sounded as young as ever. And just like that, we were back in 1982. The world felt young again, and Bob Geldof was bursting with energy and song. Only upon revisiting The Rats’ discography and Geldof’s attitude from that time does the connection to Britpop become clear. What Geldof was doing in the early ’80s (critiquing society, cleverly walking the line between self-deprecation and coolness, all wrapped in catchy melodies) was exactly what Britpop artists would do a decade later. It’s now obvious that Blur, and especially Pulp, drew heavy inspiration from Geldof’s personality. Jarvis Cocker, Pulp’s frontman, can be seen in every step Geldof takes, making Bob Geldof something of a “proto-Jarvis Cocker.”
Geldof appeared like a youthful figure with the face of an Old Testament prophet. Maybe it’s something in the Irish water or air, but the Irish simply do not tolerate injustice. They have a deep need to fix the world and straighten its crooked paths. Lennon felt that with his “Imagine.” Bono felt it too, and often took it too far. But Geldof had the most success, organizing Band Aid and Live Aid back in 1985. They launched into “Like Clockwork,” and I looked around the crowd. Though there were some older faces, the majority, definitely the liveliest part, were young people. They knew every word and danced with bright smiles. I remembered how my ex-girlfriend, an artist, once explained why the ’80s will always be in style: “It’s like the Renaissance in art. Everyone keeps going back to the Renaissance because it was humanity’s peak. That’s why everyone keeps going back to the ’80s.” I also remembered another thing she said when I thought about all the young people there: in the ancient pre-Internet days, you couldn’t easily get the full discography or filmography of someone you were curious about. Today, you can study it all in just a few weeks, and “properly fall in love” with an artist. And many on the Tesla Universe stage clearly had fallen for the man with the face of a boy and beard of an old man. The fresh openness of the younger generation to discover and embrace new things makes them, in many ways, “the new great generation,” something we’ve been witnessing more and more in recent months.
A bit of nostalgia came through in the guitarist’s ska-patterned guitar and suit, while the music took us back to a time when songs sounded childlike, cheerful and melodic, with lyrics that jolted you awake. Bob’s friend Midge Ure wrote the dance hit “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes” about nuclear war, and similar themes are found in “Vamos a la playa” (Righeira) and “99 Luftballons” (Nena). The Boomtown Rats do the same, forcing you to dance with upbeat tunes while their lyrics slap you in the face. “She’s So Modern” and “Rat Trap” are masterpieces from those uncertain times, still echoing today. “She’s so 1970s, she’s so 20th century…” he sings, then updates it: “she’s so 2020.” He modernizes the song. An alarm clock ticks – “tick-tock.” So much is ticking away today – politics, wars, climate change, dictatorships, and once again, famine in Gaza, Ethiopia – places where Geldof tried to help 40 years ago. And succeeded.
Geldof picked up the harmonica and spent a whole segment of the concert showcasing his skills on this instrument, once common in the ’80s, now almost exotic. He repeatedly said, “It’s a beautiful summer night” – and we, in our jackets, unused to the cold wave, chuckled and thought, “Maybe, if you’re from Ireland!” But jokes aside, it truly was a lovely evening. Bob sang his biggest hit, the one about hating Mondays (nobody likes them except workaholics), because Mondays are always the same – first school, then capitalism squeezing the life out of you. He sang, “You and me against the whole f***ing world,” which perfectly captured the mood in Serbia these days. Bob felt it too and said, “Novi Sad, you know you can change things!” to a euphoric response from the crowd.
And in the end, in the video projection, smiling animated rats took over the city. Honestly, I’d never thought of rats in a positive light – but maybe I should. They are resilient, hard to get rid of, and they survive anything. Maybe we are those rats. And maybe us crawling out of our “holes” and taking over cities is exactly in line with The Boomtown Rats’ aesthetic.
Many have said that Band Aid and Live Aid were “megalomaniacal stunts” and criticized Geldof for accepting an honorary knighthood despite being from the Republic of Ireland. But he tried to save people and children in one country 40 years ago. And he did – thousands of them. Those people now have tens of thousands of descendants, perhaps even grandchildren. How many people are alive today because of you? A big salute to Geldof.
And after him came Gala, turning the night into a Gala event, a Gala opening, and for a moment, on this Thursday, we felt we were on the right path, in the right place.
Author: Žikica Milošević
